Probation hearing delayed

FLORIDA - The State - In Brief

October 12, 2005

FORT LAUDERDALE -- A judge has delayed a decision on whether to revoke probation for convicted child-killer Lionel Tate, who could face additional criminal charges beyond allegations that he robbed a pizza-delivery man at gunpoint.

Broward County Circuit Judge Joel Lazarus had scheduled a probation-revocation hearing next week on the charges that Tate robbed the pizza man in May. But the judge decided Tuesday to delay the matter until Dec. 5 after learning that prosecutors may bring new charges against Tate. The judge could again send Tate to prison for life.

Tate's lawyer, H. Dohn Williams Jr., said Tate may be charged with illegal possession of a .40-caliber Beretta handgun that belongs to his mother, Kathleen Grossett-Tate, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper.

Williams also said Tate could be charged with soliciting a 16-year-old friend to help rob the pizza-delivery man using cell-phone text messages.

Tate, now 18, was sentenced to life in prison for killing 6-year-old playmate Tiffany Eunick when he was 12.